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i-? .THi RADIO LA BAYE.CONTROVERSY .. :- .
Dr Francis Alexis, Minister of Labour in the Grenada Government,
said in an interview.on July 9tl. .that .e is at a loss to understand
, why he is being "dragged into the Radio La Baye controversy"

Dr Alexis was responding to a press release issued ,y Mr $Stnley
Charles, 36, owner/manager of FM90 Radio La Baye. in which he
charges that Dr Alexis "misled the Cabinet and lied to e nat.ion".

On -July 5,A'~i.Athb was detained ,by the, Police and -~eleascd :the t:follow-
ir:, day,, .b$ not efpre ,the, Polica. had confiscated ".te transmitter
S{ and all the equipment at the station which is located on nTetlscope
Point on Grenada's east coast near the tcwn of Grenville.

Dr Alexis, tol, NEWSLETTER he has. made, nopublic statement on the
master and does not understand th, charge that ,he AmaSled aCabinet,
and lied to the nation". He said, however, he did take part in a
Cabinet mdet:ing at which 'a sAiteent on the:matter %as prepared for
broadcast '

In an .ipte.viewf on July 9th, Mr Charipestold NEWSPETTER that, last:
April, he applied to the Prime Minister's office forai a c~ce to -:
broadcast and has a reply, dated 26th April and signed by Mr Blaize's:
Permanent Secrertary,, which advises that Gbvernment had agreed to his
-. continued -

SFOUMNDED 17T A1;GUST 1973

____... '........j_ ____"._!"

Page 2 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Week Ending 3. 5.

proposal for establishment of Radio La Baye.

"Preliminary conditions are", the letter says, "(I) That the
Sstatiog operate odn the FM band only, and (2).That permission be
obtained from the relevant authority for the use of: the particular
Frequencyy'. .

Mr Charles said he applied to the Communications Officer for the
required permission and, under date of 6th May, that officer re-
plied that "a licence to operate ap FM radio station oj. the
frequency of 88,8IMhz and 90 Mhz. has been approved!!..

Mr Charles, who has been resident in the United Kingdom for the
last 20 years and who worked fot some 12 years with the BBC and
Radio London, said in his interview it was on the basis of these
documents that RadiO La Baye started-.test transmissions.

The equipment for the station cost only EC$150,006, he said,
becAuse of careful buying and assistance from friends.

"In real terms", he said, "this is about a quarter of the real
price, but people tend to believe ths is isa two 0miiion'dollar
project. "They wAnt to'know where the hell Itm getting all
this money and they say I have Lybian corrections'.

As far as this chMrge is concecned,-Mr Charles said, and the
charge that he is-a communist, all that needs to be done to dis-
prove them is to "check with the banks in-Grenada". :

Mr Cha;tles said, "tanofficially", hd has heard the accusation that
ec .pmemt for Radio'La Baye had been smuggled idito the island and
he denied this .- '

"The equipment came through Customs", he said, "and the trans-
mitter was labeled as a. monitor', which it is, but, by makingg
minor adjustments, it became a transmitter". '-

It is true, he said, that the,authorities were misled, but what
entered the country as a tmonitort became a transmittert after
certain adjustments.

Questioned on the matter of the licecece-to Radio La Baye, -Min-
ister of Labour Dr Francis Alexis told NEWSLETTER the documen-s
Mr Charles has ares. valid but they do not represent a'completion
of the formalities. : :

"The law makes it very clear",, he said,' "that, not only is it
necessary to get authorisation from the Wireless Officer, but
authorisation must also be had from Cabinet and that has not
been given.

S continued

Week Enoing 13.7.85 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Page 3

Mr Charles had a meeting on July; 9th on this matter.with Prime Mini-
ter Herbert Blaize but declined to disclose detai-ls of what was dis-
cussed. He indicated, however, that it may be some time before
Radio La Baye' is back on the air .'

"I think Government is going to make a statement which is not favou,
able to Radio La Baye", he said. "Howevbr, I don't think the i
bridges will have been burnt. The statement. 4ill say there:may
have been errors but, let,ts close ranks and look at opening discuss-
ions sometime later"

Mr Charles thought this a reasonable attitude and he was willing to
wait for the Government statement and see 'how le can "emerge-."

BLAIZE: RADIO LA BAYE NOT -SNCED

Prime Minister Herbert Blaize made a statement 'on July 9th over
Radio Grenada with reference to the controversial matter of Radio
La Baye.

"Cabipet indicated to the promoter that it was prepared in princi-
ple, to entertain discussion on the Idea of a :privately jrun radio
station", he said, "but Cabinet wanted to know certain matters about
the,proposal".

These matters include disclosure of th people involved in the pro-
posal,. Mr Blaize said, and the promoter, Mr Stanley Charles, was in-
v'ted to talk to Cabinet on these matters.

According to Mr Blaiaze, the law requires that a licence be obtained
before one can operate a radio station', and the 'aw sets on the for1
the licence should take and who should .sign.the licence.,

"None of these requirements have been met by the promoter concerned
with Radio La Baye", Mr Blaize said. "No licence to operate a
radio station was ever given to him. All he .has ,been told is tha.+
an FM service was acceptable to Govern:lent in principle~

Mr Blaize said that, on 30th May last, Mr Charles was sent a letter
expressing Cabinet ts concern' that he (Charles) was .going ahead with
preparations for setting up Radio La Baye when there had beer; no
follow up discussions with Cabinet on the matter.

"I am' to advise you", the letter said, Vthat to operate :a radio
station you'must have a',licence. You do not have a licence. The
authority for the licene --ust''come from "'Cabinet and Cabinet has.
not given you that authority". '
. continued -
t >. i; <

Page 4 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER WeeK. angn 1 J3. /.

Mr :&3ai zesaid the Customl Authorities are very "u'set"'-as equip-
ment for Radio La Baye'was imported'under a "f&lsedeclarationt",

"The radio station has been closed", Mr Blaize said, "and the law
Will take its course."

The law is for a-ll, the. Prime Minister said and Government as well.
as governed must obey. ,

"The is no one law for the wealthy and another law for the loWley"
he said, "there must be equality before the law"

The Prime Minister said his Government will, at all times, ensure
respect by all for the rule of law.

BLAZE UNDER FIRE FROM "VOICE"

PrimeMinister Herbert Blaize has come under fire from the "Gre-
nat.ian. Voice" newspaper which charges "there is too much bungling
and too much private government".

The, charge is madein a ftont page editorial i, the newspaper's
issue.of.July 13ath, and, the paper points out that, while A.Blaize
and his Grenada National Party were highly critical of Sir. Eric
Gairy when Sir Eric arranged such infrequent meetings of Parlia-
ment, Mr Blaizes New National Party has had only two sittings of
Parliament since bthe election tof .ast december.

tC we have parliamentary democracy without an active Parlia-
ment where people have the opportunity to hear their affairs
beitg discussed 7?" the paper asks. 'at kind of Government
is the NNP running ? Ha a e: Cabinet si iply replaced the
Central Committee of :the Party' of the Peoples Revolutionary
Government ?"

The "Grehadian Voice" says the situation .s even worse than this
in that the ,"rumblings" heaLd indicate that many matters which
should properly be discussed by Cabinet are decided .outside".

There is another dangerous:waV in which the Prime Minister is
"aping" the PRG, the newspaper says, and that is by conducting .
"a sort of Government by radio".

Since taking office, the "Grenadian Voice" says, Mr Blaize has
held one press conference only and, during the recent conference
in Grenada of the Heads of the Organisation of East Caribbean
States, he was the only Prime Minister to give short shif t(sic)
:nd refusing to grant an interview"* .
continued -

cr i, L r~ r. or

Week Ending 13.7.85 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Page 5

The newspaper says it has renewed, almost weekly and without success
a standing request to see the Prime Minister. Further, when an
attempt was made to see Mr Blaize to interview him on the controversy
which has arisen over Radio La Baye (see story on page 1), the news
paper was told the Prime Minister would be making a statement on
radio that night.

"The unmitigated arrogance !U1" the newspaper exclaimed. "will
someone who understands these matters better and has the ear of the
Prime Minister please take him aside and tell him that the least he
should have done was to give the press a copy of his statement in
advance, embargoed to the time of his broadcast."

The "Voice" wonders whether Mr Blaize would rather not face the
searching questions of the Press on matters, like Radio La Baye,
which, the newspaper says, have been bungled from,the start.

"Come, Mr Blaize", the Editorial says, "the Press would prefer to
work with you for the development of the country rather than fight
with you. But, we do have our duty to perform."

S'.,BLAIZE GETS PROMISE ON VISAS,

Prime Minister Herbert Blaize believes the visa restrictions impose
on Grenadians by the Governments: of Trinidad & Tobago and of Jamaica
will be removed within a few'weeks.

In a brQadcast over Radio Grenada on July 9th, Mr Blaize said that,
a, the recent Heads of Government Conference in Barbados, he had re-
ceived commitments from the Pri:e Ministers of both countries that
"early positive action" may be expected.

"Unfortunately", he said, "the Prime Minister of Trinidad & Trbago i-
oPt of the country for a few weeks and th- Jamaica Prime ;Minister is
also leaving the country, so we will have to wait for another week o,
two for results".

Both Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica imposed visa restrictions on Gre--
nadians after the October 1983 military intervention when it was
thought that elements of the Peoples Revolutionary Army might attempt
to filter into those countries.

Mr Blaize said he had taken the opportunity also at the Conference to
discuss the currency problems faced by Grenada's traffickers" those
people who have weekly trade with Trinidad.

Due to currency restrictions imposed by Trinidad & Tobago, these
traffickers have difficulty securing money to spend in Trinidad for

continued -

Page 6 TIlE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Week Ending 13.7.85

goods they wish to bring back to Grenada.

"The officials have set.in motion a machinery that will facilitate
the exchange of goods and help the traffickers to have .a cuch easier
time", Mr Blaize said.

The Prime Minister said that, if in no other direction, triese are
concrete results for Grenada from the Heads of Government Con-
'ference.

BARRISTERS PAID. "BRIEF, FEB"

Sources close to the Registry of,'the Grenada Supreme Court con-
firmed, on July 12th', that the "brief fee" charged by the De -
fence team in the "Maurice Bishop1 murder trial has been paid.

When this case came before Chief Justice Sir Archibald Nedd on
June 27th, the leader of the~Defence team, Mr Howard Hamilton
Q.C., told the Court the teami-was not ready to proceed because
certain "administrative arrangements?' had not been completed.

Seventeen of the 19 accused (who all face 1 counts of murder,-
are financially unable to employ counsel and the Court ha-
assigned a tearn of 7 Jamaican barristers to defend them., An.,
informed source said the "administrative arrangements" relate
to payment, by the Grenada Treasury, of the Defence team-s
"brief fee" of EC$300,000.

The other two accused, Bernard Coard, Deputy Prime Minis er in
the Peoples Revolutionary Government, and his, Jamaican wife.
Phyllis, wish to employ their own counsel.

At the last sitting of the Court, the Coards said they are
arranging with Jamaican barrister Mr Ian:Ramsey Q.C. to de-
fend them, but nego nations were not then c.mplete. A
Suprene Court Registry source told NEWSLETI.R there have been
no further developments in this connection.

Members of the Defence team are e3cected to come t6 the island
shortly for consultations with their -clients and the case has
been fixed for hearing on August 8th.

At the'June 27th sitting of the Court, Sir Archibald warned he
will not allow any further adjournments and, if the Cards are'
not represented by counsel by that date, it is likely the trial
of the 17 will proceed, a separate trial for the Coards to be
held" later.

continueJ -

.1

Week Sndin 1.3.7.85 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Page 7

"This is the last adjournment this Court will allow", the Chief Jus-
tice said at the June 27th sitting. "If anyone is ill or with-
out counsel on that date (August 8th), we shall proceed without them.

CLAIMS COMMISSION SET UP

A three-man Commission of Inquiry has been appointed by Governor Gen
eral Sir Paul Scoon to investigate claims of persons regarding fi-
nancial or economic loss resulting from action of the Government of
Grenada.

Chairman of the Commission is ex-Justice of the High Court, MW Elvi,
St Bernard, and with him are Mr Lawrence Joseph, Speaker of the Gre-
nada Senate and Mr Joachim St John, a building contractor.

The Commission is charged with looking into claims arising between
3rd March 1967 and 19th October 1985, and these dates are signifi-
cant.

Grenada became a State in Association with Great Brotain on 3rd Mar
ch 1967. On that date, the island ceased to be a colony and,
under a new Constitution, the Govrrnment of Grenada ase :.med full in-
ternal self government.

The Grenada United Labour Party of Sir Eric Gairy came to power soon
after that date and that Government compulsOrilly acquired several
agricultural estates. Many of .these estates have not yet been
paid for and will come under the section of the terms of reference of
t'e Commission which refers to "claims made by persons in respect c-
property taken from them by the State without compensation".

The terms of reference have two other sections. The first refers
to "claims made by persons in respect of deprivation of wages all-
egedly due to them by the State, and the other to "claims made by
persons regarding financial or economic loss as a result of action
Sby the State."

With reference to the latter, it is expected that scores of persons
who were detained without trial or charge by the Peoples Revolution
ary Government for period up to 4 years, will submit claims.

It is in that connection, and relater matters, that the cut-off datz
for the period under consideration, 19th October 1983, is significant.
It was on that date that Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was assass.
inated and the Peoples Revolutionary Government came to an end.

Mr St Bernard told NEWSLETTER the first meeting of the Commission is
likely to be held in the latter half of July.

*""""--"a"~ e *k

Page 8 THE GRRNADA NRWSI-TTER Week Ending 13.7.85

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS WORKSHOP

A 4-day Disaster Preparedness workshop opened in Gr-nada on July
3rd under sponsorship of the United States Peace Corps and the
United States Agency for International Development.

The workshop was under direction of Ms. Linda Borst, Peaze Corps
Training Director, and she told NEWSLETTER the workshop is of
vital significance to the islands of the Eastern Caribbean.

"The islands of the Caribbean are affected by a variety of dis-
asters", she said, "and this includes: volcanoes, earthquakes a'n'
hurricanes. We thought it a good idea to get Peace Corps -vol-
unteers and host country nationals, who do.work together, to ex-
change ideas".

Ms. Borst said a similar workshop had already been held for. the
Leeward Islands and Dominica, and the one in Grenada was being
held for the Windward Islands and Barbados.

The workshop, she said, gave the participants an opportunity to
talk about what. works in their islands and to get new ideas of
things they could do in preparing for and dealing with disasters.

The workshop was opened., officially by Mrs Margaret Dcvwe, -erman-
ent Secretary in the office of Prime Minister hezarrt Bla.ze,
and she said the Grenada Government has compiled a manuls:i *
tended to guide activities in the event of di',-tr,

This manuel, she said, has components of disas'er pt -ritdness
and relief. Its preparation was coordinator. by the 1t-lmre
M'...,ster's office with a working committee o of ficials of the
Ministries of Health, Education 'nd Construr:tion, f-rom the Po-
lice, Fire and Coast Guard Services, and f1om the Red Cross
Society.

"Beyond question", she said, "the management of 3 disaster is an
inter-sectorial activity. Cooperative action is essential and,
to maximise the effect of such action, each sector must be pre-
pared to undertake, to its highest level of performance, th:1
function role designated by its terms of reference"

Mrs Dowe said Grenada is committed to the Pan Caribbean DiJV-
aster Prepaedness & Prevention Project. This proje;:, -lir
said, is a multi-agency project with multi-diciplinary a &::..,
to disaster management in which 28 English, Spanish, Frencii-h i
Dutch speaking countries participate.

"We continue to support the concept of a regional approach;', she
said, "because we are very much aware of our vulnerability, not
only to natural, but also to economic pressures and hazzards".
continued-

Week gbding 13.7.85 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Page 9

Also associated with the workshop was Mr Bill Wilcox, Peace Corps
Training Specialist.

The Government of St Lucia was the second Government in the world
(Ghana was the first) to enter into an agreement with the Govern-
ment of the United States for services of Peace Corps volunteers.

This was disclosed in an interview with NEWSLETTER on July 3rd by,
Mr William K Perrin, Country Director in the Eastern Caribbean i6r
the Peace Corps.

Mr Perrin was in Grenada for the opening of a Disaster Preparedness
Workshop partly sponsored by the Peace Corps, and he said the de?
mands. on the Corps have changed a great deal since the Agreement
was signed with St Lucia in 1961.

"The countries of the Eastern Caribbean are so much mor, developed
now than they were 25 years agot, he said, "and the skills needed
then are not the skills needed today".

Originally, he said, Peace Corps volunteers were used to show people
snob basic things as how to take care of their communities in r'tral i
areas for better sanitation. Now, he explained, the need is for
such expertise as Agricultural engineers, Civil Engineers, Nurse
Trainers and experts in water sanitation management.

In Grenada, where the Peace Corps has been active since 1967, nine-
teen volunteers are in the field and fourteen more are expected to
arrive shortly. These volunteers are involved mainly in the fields'
of health, education, agriculture and small business development,
Mr Perrin said.

The Country Director said obtaining membership of the Peace Corps i-
a very competitive matter and, of those who apply, only one out of
every ten makes it after screening.

"Once they are accepted", he said, ".they are volunteers and we pay
them a living allowance which is just barely enough to take care of
their basic requirements of rent, food and transportation.,"

The allowance also provides a little for entertainment, but member-
shir of the Corps is not a money making affair, it is based on a
desire to give service, he said. When a volunteer's term of
continued -

_ ~ _~_~_I _f~L___

Page 10 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTrER Week Ending 13.T48

service is over, he or she receives a sum equal to USQ-7 for ever
month served, Mr Perrin said, and this is to assist the volunteer, ,
"readjustment" in the United States.

The Country Director said, in the United States, the Peace Corps
generally, has the image of being a good agency doing a good job
he said, some of his colleagues have not seen the Corps as it real-
is4

"Since I have bedn a Director for the last three years", he said, ,'
have seen that it is a really fine programme, not only for the hoe
Government but it is good for the American Government and the Arnr
an people".

Mr Perrin said the Peace Corps is a "really good two-way street,.
lot of Americans sense this he said, but he would like 7-ore Ameri,-
ans to understand this,

CONTAINERISATION THREATENS DOCKERS

A four-day seminar sponsored by, the OCribbean Maritime & Aviation
Council (CMAC) opened in Barbados on July 8th to cons' ter the impact
of "containerisation" on dock. workers "in the region.

The seminar was sponsored jointly by the Caribbean Congress rC Lrbs,
and The American Federation of Labour & Congress of Industrial Org;
isations (AFL-CIO), and was expected to attract some 25 participant
from Caribbean dockworkers' unions affiliated to C ;.-..

In an interview with NEWSLETTER, Mr Pierre said increasing contain-
isation of carg, has been making inroad- into labour employment in
the Caribbean.

"Less labour is required to handle ca-go in containers than is re-
quired to handle 'break bulk' of 'palletised' cargo", 'be said, "ai
the effect of this is being felt throughout the region,"

He explained that 'break bulk' cargo is the traditional mood cr
storing cargo in the ship's hold where it has to be b:'ok.. 'u"t a.
put in slings for discharge. 'Palletised' cargo is I..trd in th
Should on pallets ready for attaching to the winch for discharge hilet
'containerised' cargo is packed in a large container re ,j for dis-
charge.

continued -

~ ...,

Week Engng 13.7.85. THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Page 1

Mr Pierre said the full effect of containerisation has not yet been
felt in Grenada because, while ships do bring containers to the is-
land, these are not container ships and the impact on labour employ-
ment has not been as strong.

"When container ships start coming to Grenada", he said, "all that
will be needed is one man to operate a fork-lift in the ship's hold
and this will put a lot of men out of work"

This is the problem the Barbados seminar was scheduled to discuss,.
Mr Pierre said, and he was hopeful that solutions would be found.

The SVW General Secretary said the seminar would be followed by t
CMAC Geheral 'ouoncil meeting g.,

HOTEL TO REOPEN BY DECEMBER

The Grenada Government has leased the Government owned Grenada Beach
Hotel to Issa Nicholas (Grenada) Ltd, a private company incorporated
in Grenada in 1975.

The lease was signed on June 10th and, at its Cabinet meeting in the
last week in June, Gov3.~:iment granted the Company inco 3 tax relief
for 10 years and duty free concessions on all material, imported to
renovate and upgrade the hotel.

Grenada Beach Hotel, located on the island's mile-long Grand Anse
beach, four miles south of St Georges, stands on 20 acres of land
and has 184 rooms, 124 in the main building and 60 in the "East
wing".

The lease entered into for this property is for 99 years with an
option of renewal and, for the first five years, the Company will
pay US$50,000 per annum. Following that period, there will be an
increase of 15% .n the annual payment ard a similar increase every
five years.

In 1981, this hotel, then the "Holiday Inn", suffered extensive
damage from fire. It never reopened as "Holiday Inn" but was
bought, in May 1983, by the Peoples Revolutionary Government for wa
undisclosed sum.

One hundred and fifty-three of the rooms were reconditioned then
and the hotel reopened to business.on 31st July 1983 as "The Grerada
Beach Hotel" Hcwever, during the fighting which took.place.in
that area during the United States military intervention in 0 october
1983, more dimqge was done.

continued -
I

Page 12 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Wee9 Ending 13.7.85

At present, 141 rooms are partly usable and 43 need extensive reno-
vation. An informed source said it is expected that US$7.5 mill-
ion will be spent by the Company to renovate and upgrade the plant
to the standard of a first class hotel.

Some 149 persons are expected to be employed shortly on the recon-
struction work, and the hotel is expected to be opened in time for
the coming 'Winter Season" under the United States based hotel
management firm of Ramada Inns International.

Grenada Beach Hotel has been the Healquarters of the United States
Forces since the military intervention in 1983. The last U'.S.
Forces left the island on June 11th and, from that date, only a
skeleton staff has been maintained. ., When the hotel reopens,
some 300 persons will be employed.

Isra Nicholas (Grenada) Ltd has an authorised capital of EC$1
million dollars of which EC$350,000 has been paid up. All
shares are held by Trinidadian Mr Issa Nicholas.and his wife
Susan and they, together with prominent Grenadian businessman,
Mr D M B Cromwell, are Directors of the Company.,:

Mr Nicholas, Managing Director of the Company, confirmed in an
interview on July 2nd that his Company has been given: a,:' -1 on-
the "Grenada Beach Hotel" premises.

But Mr Nicholas said he had not yet been advised by Government of
the duty free concessions he wants on all materials importedd to
renovate and upgrade the property to the standard of a 5-star
hotel.

He confirmed, too, that the annual rental of the hotel has been
fixed at US$50,000 or 1% of the gross sales, whichever is higher,
and he denied that this is a "peppercorn" rent.

"That is a fair rental", he said. -"There were 11 other tenders
for the lease but my Company was the only one willing, without
Government's guarantee, to put up the US$10 million required to
renovate the hotel".

Mr Nicholas said he expected to have the hotel ready for the
coming "Winter Season".

"We are bringing in four engineers, three of which will be West-
indian", he said, "and we will have to work 16 hours a day to be
ready on time."

The Managing Director said no contracts has as yet been aws'ded
Sfor renovation of the hotel but he had had discussions with Mr
?on Smith, Grenadian Civil Engineer who was Project Manager for
Grenada's Point Saline International airport.
continued -

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1,TAJ 4;*- r '.7 Si-

iwgs anujsau i^. .u TE GRENADAM EWSLETTER Page 13

Mr Nicholas said the talks with Mr Smith were with reference to Mr
Smith being Project Manager for the renovation of the hotel.

A contract is soon to be signed by the Company with Ramada Inns Intr-
national, Mr Nicholas said, and, under that management, he hopes their
hotel will be called "Ramada Renaissance Grenada".

"There are different grades of Ramada hotel", he said, "and 'Ren-
aissance' is the top. There are only a few around the world and
we hope to have this one as one of the few"

In spite of this aspiration, the Managing Director thinks the charge
at the hotel will be "very little more" than what is being charged f
Grenada hotels now.

Mr: Nicholas said that depending on developments, his Company plans to
expand the hotel.

"setting into the hotel business is not as easy as some people think",
he said, "but, if all goes.well and Ramada Inns are happy with the
conditions, we plan to add another 100 rooms by the end of next year"

HOTEL PROJECTS GIVEN "GREEN LIGHT"
Eight hotel projects have been given the "green light" by Grenada's
Industrial Development Cor orati6n (IDC) and this will give the is-
land 1400 new hotel beds.

This was disclosed in an interview on July 10th by Mr Jimmy Emmanual,
G;anada's Tourism Director, but he said none of these new projects
has as yet got off the ground.

"These things take time", Mr Emmanuel said, "and one must understand
the background to the situation. Notwithstanding the fact that
Grenada's stability has been established, some of the would-be in-
vestors may still be looking critically at the situation now that
the United States forces have been withdrawn,",

The Director of Tourism said there is no doubt that, following the
elections of December 1984, Grenada has begun a new and stable era
of the island's history, and he believes the projected development
of the tourism plant will.not be long delayed.

Mr Emmanuel said. a concrete development which will give an immediate!
boost to the Tourist Industry is the renovation and reopening of
Government's hotel on Grand Anrse beach which was "Holiday Inn"
originally and after renamed "Grenada Beach Hotel",

continued -

PEage 14 TE.GREN-ADA NEWSLETTER Week End rig 13.7.8

"This 184-room hotel has been leased to a private Company", he said
"and renovation will start within a couple of weekJ. It is expect-
ed to open in time for the coming 'Winter Season' under management
of Ramada Inns International"

With reference to the Cruise Ship section of the Industry, Mr Ermjann
uel said there had been a peak in 1980 followed by a dramatic fall
off.

In 1980, he said, there had been 220 cruise ship calls bringing
some 140,000 visitors to Grerada*

"This wars followed by a down swing", he said, "when, in.1983, there
were only 65 ship calls with just over 56,000 cruise passengers",

The Tourism Director thought this understandable considering the
events in Grenada of late 1983 which necessitated the United
States and Caribbean Peacekeeping Force military intervention,
but there had since been an improvement.

"In the 1985 'Summer Season'", he said, "there have been 45 calls
which is more than 5 times the, 1984 total of 8 calls, and it
seems that we will top the 100 mark by the end of the year".

Mr Emmanuel referred to the problem of 'harassment' of rci .e
ship visitors by vendors -and taxi drivers, and said a long term
plan of public education has been undertaken to correct this.
In the mean time, he said, short term administrative arrange-
ments have greatly reduced this difficulty.

SGrenada is making every effort to doversify the attractions of
the 'tourist pr.cket", the Director said, and the Organisation of
American States has undertaken a study of physical and other C
attractions which involves the island's historic sites and ar
of natural beauty.

"Development of the 'programme arising from this study is well
under way he said, "and some sections of it will be in oper-
ation this coming 'Winter Season'".

The programme included the mapping out of nature trails in the
areas of the island's lakes, preservation'and identification of
historic buildings and landmarks, and improvement of facilities
in the scenic Carenage area in St Georges.

S"The development of Tourism does pose a threat of negative fac-
tors such as the use of drugs", Mr Emmanuel said, "but this is
not yet a part of the Grenada scene and, with the example of
what has heppe.ed in other places, we are now in a position to
_e on guard."

Tourism is already malpr foreign exchange earner for the island, he
said, and he expressed confidence that, with the careful management
planned by the Grenada Government, it will prove itself even'more
valuable over the next few years.

POLICY STATEMENT ON TOURISM

During 1983, some 7.3 million tourists arrived in the Caribbean but
only one out of every 250 visited Grenada.

This is disclosed in a "Policy Statement" prepared by Minister of
Tourism, Mr George Brizan, and published by his Ministry.

The statement says the island has 18 hotels, I1 guest houses and.13
apartments and cottages totallit 6j$5 rooms.but, in KYgy of this.gAr
only 397 rooms were available and, of these, 257 are in hotels and
inns.

The Government owned hotel premises on Grand Anse beach, four miles
south of St Georges, is expected to be reopened late this year under
management of Ramada Inns International.

With 184 rooms, this is the largest hotel on the island and, accord-
ing to the Ministry of Tourism Statement, Government's target is to
provide the island with 900 additional rooms over the next three
years.

To achieve this, Government will encourage the building of hotels,
self-contained flats and guest houses, and will ensure strong local
participation in ownership of two new largi hotels.

Among Government's targets set out in the Statement is achievement of
a steady year-round flow of visitors to increase hotel occupancy rate
Historical and environmental attractions are to be promoted and there
is to be an aggressive sales promotion in Venezuela, North America a .
Western Europe.

The Caribbean is now Grenada's main tourist market. Of all stay-
over visitors in the island in the first nine months of 1984, 47 of
every 100 came from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the United
States ran second with 29 of every 100 and Europe trailed with only 4
of every hundred. A mere 131 visitors came from Venezuela.

continued -

Page 16 THE GRENADA NEWSLETTER Week Ending 13.7.85

Gross receipts from stay-over visitors in 1984 are estimated at
EC$44.4 million while the estimate of receipts from Cruise pass-
angers is EC$2.3 million.

"Figures of gross receipts always overstate the true contribution
of Tourism to the balance of payments", the Statement says. "The
indicator of the real benefit is the net foreign exchange effect."

To arrive at this effect, the Statement says, there must be deduc-
ted from the gross receipts such items as expenditure abroad on
promotion of the country's image and the cost of imports of cap-
ital goods for hotels.

Direct employment in Tourism in 1984 is estimated by the State-
ment to be 950 persons which, the Statement says, is S% of the
work force.

The contribution of Tourism to Government's budget, through
direct and indirect payments, is estimated by the Statement to be
EC$3.166 million.

REID ELECTED TO IARPCB

Br Errol Reid, Chemist of the Widdward Islands Banana Associa-
tion (WINBAN), has b3en elected Westindies representative of the
International Association for Research op Plantain and other
comingg Bananas (IARPCB).

This is announced in a WiNBAN press release which discloses that
Dr Reid presented a Paper at the 3rd IARPCB Conference held in
Abidjan, the I"ory Coast, from 28th to 31st May last.

This Paper, "Studies on Plantain Based Crc ping Systems in the
Windward Islahds"o was co-authored by another participant in the
Conference, Dr Murali Rao of the Cgribbean Agricultural Research
& Development Institute (CARDI).

"IARPCB aims at developing, through research, method of im.rov-
ing production, processing, storage and marketing of plantain and
cooking bananas", the WINBAN release says, "so that these crops
may make a more significant contribution to the developing count-
ries in which they are grown and are regarded as staple foods"
The theme of the Conference was "International Cooperation for
Effective Plantain & Banana Research", and over 100 participants
from more than 14 countries in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, .he
Phillipines snd North, Central and South America attended.
The last IARPCB Conference was held in Ibadan, Nigeria in 1981 and,
according to WINBAN, the next is likely to be held in Latin America
or the Caribbean.
Dr Reids3 attendance at the Con ~v.ce was made possible by funding
from the Urted Sates Agenc oiInternational Development.